Mumbai |
In a fresh digital push to strengthen early education, the Maharashtra State Education Department has directed all government and aided school teachers to collect and upload parents’ WhatsApp numbers on the SCERTM app. This move is part of the larger ‘Nipun Maharashtra’ initiative aimed at improving foundational literacy and numeracy skills in students from Classes II to V.
Launched on March 5, the Nipun Maharashtra programme recognizes the critical role parents play in a child’s learning journey. To keep them informed and engaged, the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) will now send subject-wise updates and progress reports via WhatsApp directly to parents.
Education Commissioner Sachindra Pratap Singh clarified that this mandate applies only to government and aided schools — not to unaided or self-financed ones. Teachers of Classes I to XII have been asked to input parental contact details into the SCERTM app by June 30, although it remains optional for parents to share their numbers.
While the move is seen as a step towards real-time academic tracking and better transparency, some teachers have raised practical concerns. A primary school teacher from Sangli questioned the duplication of data collection, noting that such contact details already exist in the UDISE+ system. “It would have been better to integrate existing data rather than add to teachers’ administrative workload,” the teacher added.
The state, however, envisions this as the first phase in a broader digital transformation. Future plans include integrating study materials, learning videos, and audiovisual content through the SCERTM platform — allowing for improved accessibility, especially for under-resourced students.
As Maharashtra advances on the path to digitized and inclusive learning, this initiative aims to bring schools and parents closer — not just in information sharing but in jointly shaping a child’s foundational success.
